


Do It Like Nobody's Around

by poisonivory



Category: Big Time Rush
Genre: F/M, First Time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-02
Updated: 2014-09-02
Packaged: 2018-02-15 20:22:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2242296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poisonivory/pseuds/poisonivory
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When James and Camille find out that Kendall and Jo have slept together, they agree to lose their virginities to each other, just to get it over with. But will just fooling around turn into something more? And why is Logan spending so much time with Lucy's brother?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Do It Like Nobody's Around

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thilia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thilia/gifts).



> I hope you enjoy, thilia! It has getting together, smut, and clueless teenage boys in abundance. :)
> 
> Thanks to queenitsy for the beta!

**Friday**

James was enjoying his favorite dream - the one where he was at the Grammys and he had won every single award, including the Super Secret Lifetime Hotness Award, which turned out to be a flying pony - when the crash woke him.

“Whuzzat?” Carlos mumbled from the bunk above him.

James blinked bleary-eyed into the darkness. Maybe he’d just imagined it. Maybe the crash was just the pony knocking over the Grammys’ band’s drum set in his dream. _Oh Snickers, you silly pony…_

A second crash made him sit upright, whacking his head on the bottom of Carlos’s bunk. “There’s someone in the living room,” he whispered.

Carlos was awake too. “We have to protect Mama Knight and Katie!”

He jumped down from his bunk and grabbed his hockey stick. James snatched up the closest weapon-like thing he could find, which turned out to be a can of mousse, and they crept out into the hall…

...where they immediately ran into Logan, who yelped and dropped the magnifying glass he was holding on his foot. James clapped a hand over Logan’s mouth. “Shhh!” he hissed. “Did you hear it too?” Logan nodded. “Okay, let’s go.”

They tiptoed into the living room and froze. A shadowy figure was bending over, doing...well, something sinister, James was sure.

“GET HIM!” Carlos yelled, and the three of them charged forward.

“Guys! Guys, it’s me!” a familiar voice cried.

At the last second, James yanked his hand to the side and a splurt of mousse landed on the floor instead of in Kendall’s face. Logan flipped the light on. “Kendall? What are you doing?”

“It’s the middle of the night,” Carlos said.

Kendall looked sheepish. He was also, James noted, fully dressed - he’d been bending over to tie his shoes. “Uh. I’m, uh. Going to Jo’s.”

James blinked. “What, really?”

Kendall shrugged, not quite meeting their eyes. “Well, yeah, I mean, her dad’s chasing down some jewel thieves in Siberia so she’s all alone and…” He trailed off.

“Cool! What are you guys gonna do?” Carlos asked. Logan smacked him.

“You and Jo are sleeping together?” James asked.

“Shhh, not so loud!” Kendall hissed. “You wanna wake my mom up? And yeah, I mean...yeah,” he said, shifting uncomfortably. “I mean, we’ve been dating a long time.”

Logan frowned. “Wait, when did this start?”

Kendall rubbed the back of his neck. “Uh...right before she left for Australia?”

James’s jaw dropped. “That long? And you never told us?”

“I didn’t know how! I felt weird!” Kendall said. “She was gone! It wasn’t like, ‘Hey, cool, bro, you scored,’ it was like, ‘Hey, cool, you scared a girl off with your dick!’” He crossed his arms. “Besides, a gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell.”

“Well, that’s just…” James spluttered. This didn’t make sense. Kendall was sneaking around getting laid while James was stalled at second base? It was an outrage! James had _way_ better abs. “That’s just…”

Kendall’s phone buzzed and he glanced at the screen. “Jo’s asking where I am. I gotta go.” He headed for the door. “Go back to bed before you wake up my mom and Katie. And _don’t_ tell anyone about this.”

And he slipped out into the hall, leaving James, Logan, and Carlos staring at each other. “Well...good for Kendall, I guess,” Logan said, and Carlos nodded, and headed back towards the bedrooms.

James followed, scowling at the mousse can in his hand. He’d always been the one of the four of them who was best with girls. Sure, Kendall had had longer relationships, and possibly even Logan if you counted all of his on-again, off-again stuff with Camille, although Logan swore this time they were broken up for good. But James had dated the _most_ girls, and until tonight, he thought he’d gone the farthest. He’d always assumed he’d be the first to lose his virginity, but now…

He sulked his way into the bedroom. What was the use of being born so beautiful if he couldn’t do anything with it?

*

**Saturday**

When Camille opened the door to Lucy’s new apartment, a wave of noise hit her. Inside was a mass of people, dancing and shouting to each other over the music.

She glanced at Jo. “Looks like Lucy’s excited about having her brother move into the Palm Woods.”

Jo raised her eyebrows. “You think? Come on, let’s see if we can find her.”

They pushed their way into the crowd, ducking elbows and spilled drinks. Camille was impressed - she didn’t even _know_ most of these people.

“Camille! Jo! Over here!”

Through the mob Camille caught a flash of red and black hair. She grabbed Jo’s wrist and pulled her in that direction, and they finally emerged in a clearing where Lucy was holding court, next to a cute guy who looked exactly like her, right down to the leather jacket, though his hair was buzzed close to his scalp instead of dyed a bright color.

“Hi guys!” Lucy said. “This is my twin brother Linus. Linus, this is Camille and Jo.”

“Welcome to the Palm Woods,” Camille said. “I’m so glad your parents let you come!”

“Thanks to Lucy,” Linus said, giving her a friendly elbow to the ribs.

Lucy shrugged. “Yeah, it turns out if your album sells well enough, your parents forget that they hate rock and roll.”

Linus rubbed a hand over his hair. “Goodbye military school, hello getting to have hair again.”

“Hey, there you guys are,” Kendall said from behind them. He and the rest of Big Time Rush pushed through the crowd, Logan looking a little worse for wear from the effort. “As promised, Bitters is taken care of. He’s convinced there’s vampires roaming through the Palm Woods looking for fresh meat.”

Logan nodded and pointed to some very realistic-looking fang marks on his neck. “He won’t come out of his office until sunrise.”

Lucy laughed. “Thanks, guys. Here, this is Linus. Linus, this is Kendall, James, Logan, and Carlos.”

“And which ones are the ex-boyfriends?” Linus asked.

Lucy rolled her eyes. “The tall ones.”

“You’re so predictable.” Linus grinned. “Anyway, as a short guy I make it a habit not to get into fights with tall guys, so it’s nice to meet all of you.”

Linus, it turned out, was charming, and despite the leather a lot less intimidating than Lucy had been initially. Before long he, Lucy, and Logan were deep into some nerdy, esoteric debate about time signatures. Camille couldn’t really follow it, and Kendall and Jo had wandered off somewhere and Carlos had gone in search of cheese puffs and Alexa, in that order, so Camille drifted towards the kitchen counter to get a drink. If she couldn’t find someone to talk to she could at least find something to do with her hands.

She was pouring a cup of punch when she heard a familiar melodramatic sigh behind her. “What’s wrong, James?”

“Nothing,” he said. “I’m fine.”

She turned around. James was pouting theatrically. “You don’t _look_ fine.” She saw the offended look start to cross his face and quickly warded it off. “No, I mean, you always look _fine_ , but you don’t look happy.”

“It’s nothing,” he said again. “I can’t talk about it.”

“Oh.” Camille took a sip of her punch, then coughed. “Yowza. What did Lucy put in this?”

James sighed again. Camille rolled her eyes. “Here,” she said, pouring a second cup of punch and handing it to him. “If you’re not going to tell me about whatever discontinued hair product is putting you into a sulk, at least stop sighing and drink this.”

*

Two hours later, Camille was lying on a beach chair by the pool, staring up at the sky. The stars were spinning in time with the faint thrum of music from Lucy’s apartment.

“It’s not fair,” James said from the chair beside hers.

Camille didn’t want to take her eyes off of the stars. “What’s not?”

James was silent for a minute. “You...you ever think you’re the best at something, and then your friend is, like, way better than you at it, or gets something before you do, and you’re like, hey, no, that’s my thing? But you can’t say anything?”

One of Camille’s best friends was a beloved TV star and the other was doing national tours, while Camille was still perusing scripts for things like _Ghost Bike IX_. But all she said was, “Uh-huh.” She lifted her punch cup to her lips only to find it empty, again. It had been empty a _lot_ tonight.

“Like, fine, okay, Kendall is Gustavo’s favorite, fine, _fine_ , I don’t care, because I’m still the prettiest. I’m still the prettiest, right?”

Now Camille rolled her head to the side to look at him, even though it made the ground rock a little. James was flushed and his mouth was hanging open - but it was a nice flush, and a nice mouth, and even if she still had a bit of a weakness for Logan’s dimples, there was no denying that James was probably the best-looking human she’d ever seen up close.

“You’re the prettiest,” she agreed.

She expected him to preen at that, but he just scowled. “So how come Kendall’s sneaking off to have sex with Jo and I’m not sneaking off to have sex with anyone?”

Camille sat bolt upright and nearly fell. “Kendall and Jo are sleeping together?”

“Crap!” James tried to sit up too and _did_ fall. “I wasn’t supposed to tell. You can’t say anything!”

Camille stared at him. “She never...I can’t believe she never told me! She’s supposed to be my best friend!”

“Yeah, welcome to the club,” James said, trying to climb back onto his beach chair and slipping off again. “We only found out because we caught him sneaking out to go to her place last night.”

So that was what Jo was doing while her dad was gone. Camille knew that she shouldn’t be judging anyone’s sex life, especially her best friend’s. And part of her was admittedly impressed by Jo’s secret-keeping abilities, especially in the face of the paparazzi that still wandered by the Palm Woods on a semi-regular basis - but that was nearly buried in a wave of hurt. Jo hadn’t told her. Camille would’ve killed to hear the details - she could’ve used them in her acting. It was, after all, a major life experience she hadn’t had yet. No wonder Jo got better roles than she did - she had more to work with.

A second thought hit her belatedly. “Wait, James - you’re a virgin?”

James scowled up at her from the pool deck. “Say it a little louder, why don’t you?”

“Sorry, I just...it’s just...I mean, look at you!”

“I know!” James said. He gestured to his body. “How has this not been shared with the world yet?”

“You tell me,” Camille said. “I mean, you’ve dated, like, a hundred girls.”

“A hundred and twenty-nine, to be exact,” James corrected her. “But most of them were only one or two dates.” He shrugged. “I may be beautiful, but I’m not a _floozy_.”

“What about Lucy?”

James sighed. “I dunno. We didn’t really ever get to see each other. That’s part of why we broke up. We made out a lot when we weren’t on tour, but it just...never quite got that far.” He gave her a sidelong glance. “Uh...you and Logan never…?”

Camille laughed, then was surprised by how bitter the sound was. “Please. I could barely get him to _look_ at me while we were dating, much less touch my boobs. He didn’t really...we never...I mean, he just didn’t seem interested.”

“Well, he’s an idiot, because you’re stupid hot,” James said matter-of-factly.

“Uh...thanks.” Camille looked away. Probably it was just the punch making her feel flushed. “I just kinda want to get it over, you know. Check it off the bucket list.”

“Why don’t you?” James asked. “It’s easy for girls. Just find some guy and...do it.”

Camille rolled her eyes. “It’s not _that_ easy. I mean, I want to find someone who’s not gross, who’s not a jerk, who’s not going to go blabbing to everyone he know…” She ticked her requirements off on her fingers. “And it would help if I was at least a little attracted to him.”

“Mm,” James said, finally making it back onto his chair.

Camille lay back again. And she would never know if it was the punch or the jealousy or the stars that made her say it, but she opened her mouth and said: “We should do it.”

James fell off his chair again.

“Sorry. But I mean it!” she said, leaning over to look at him. “I mean, why not? We’re friends, right? And we know that we...that there’s...I mean, we kissed that one time, and it wasn’t awful, right?” She hated how nervous that question made her.

James still looked shellshocked, but he shook his head. “No, it was...nice. I mean, it...we…” He cocked his head. “Are you sure?”

“Why not?” Camille said, shrugging with an easy confidence that she didn’t feel. But she was an actress, after all. “We’ll both be able to check it off our lists, and we’ll get all the awkward first time stuff out of the way so that when we’re actually dating people who want to have sex with us, we’ll be ready. _And_ we’ll have a secret of our own.”

“Well…” James started.

“CANNONBALL!” Carlos screamed from the lobby, and came charging out onto the pool deck and leaped into the pool. A mob of people followed him, some jumping in the pool, others just dancing on the pool deck to the stereo someone had brought down.

“Come by my apartment on Monday when you’re done at the studio. My dad’ll be at work until six,” Camille muttered before anyone could come close enough to hear them.

James nodded slowly, then smiled - not the usual dazzling Diamond smile, but something almost shy. Camille tried to ignore the sudden flurry of butterflies in her stomach. They were friends helping each other out. What could go wrong?

*

**Monday**

James checked his reflection for the ninetieth time. Good, still handsome. He pushed a lock of hair out of his eyes, gave himself one last confidence-boosting smile, and headed for the door.

“Hey, where are you going?” Logan asked.

James stumbled to a halt. “Logan! Hey there, buddy! I’m just...uh...going to…buy more hair mousse. Yes, that’s it. Hair mousse.” He tousled his own hair a bit. “Gotta keep looking sharp, you know how it is. Ahem.”

“Cool. I’m gonna go check out Lucy’s band practice,” Logan said.

James blinked. “Really?” Huh. Lucy had liked Kendall before she’d dated James - maybe she was just really into Big Time Rush.

“Yeah. Oh, but there’s nothing going on between me and Lucy!” Logan said hastily. “I wouldn’t want you to think that...because you guys dated, and she sort of dated Kendall before, and...you know, that would be weird.”

“Yeah, I guess,” James said. He waited for the sting of jealousy to hit him and was mildly surprised when it didn’t. Although he was heading out to have sex with Logan’s ex-girlfriend, so maybe the guilt was keeping it at bay.

Apparently the guilt didn’t show in his face, because Logan chattered on obliviously. “You know Linus is her new drummer, right? He invited me to watch them practice and I figured, hey, why not, right? I mean, you and Kendall play instruments so maybe I should learn more about one.”

“Sure. Sounds good,” James said. He opened the door. “Well, have fun!”

“Will do! And I promise to stay away from Lucy,” Logan said, giving James a big grin.

James bit back a groan. “Uh...thanks.”

“Any time, buddy!” Logan said. He waved jauntily, then headed down the hall. James waited until he turned the corner, then made a beeline for the stairs.

Camille opened the door the second he knocked, almost as if she’d been waiting by it. James didn’t know what he’d expected, but she wasn’t wearing lingerie or a sexy cowgirl outfit or anything like that - just shorts and a normal tank top with little purple flowers all over it. She still looked pretty, though.

“Hi,” she said.

“Hi,” he said.

“Do you want to come in?” she asked.

“Okay,” he said.

He stepped inside, she closed the door, and they stared at each other.

“Uh…” he started to say.

Camille took a hasty step back. “So I was thinking we should lay down some ground rules,” she said. She was talking very fast. “Do you want to sit down? Let’s sit down.”

They sat down on opposite ends of the couch. Two people could’ve fit between them, maybe three.

“Ground rules,” Camille said, counting them off. “One: Anyone can say no at any time for any reason and we stop. No arguing, just...stop. Okay?”

“Of course,” James said.

“Two: We use protection. Pregnancy is a life experience I _don’t_ want to add to my acting repertoire, at least not just yet.”

James nodded. Finally the condoms he’d been carrying hopefully around in his wallet would get used.

“Three: We tell no one. Not Jo, not Lucy, not the guys.”

“Yeah, about that…” James rubbed the back of his neck. “I think I should ask Logan if this is okay.”

“What?”

“I feel guilty!” James said. “I ran into him on the way here and I nearly confessed. I just feel bad. I mean, remember how upset he got that time we kissed? Imagine how he’d feel about this!”

Camille shook her head. “No! Logan can’t keep a secret to save his life. Besides, when you and I kissed Logan and I were still dating. This is totally different. We’ve been broken up for months.”

“Yeah, but you don’t go after your best friend’s girlfriend. It’s not cool,” James protested.

“You’re _not_ going after me, we’re just...doing each other a favor,” Camille said. “It’s not the same thing.”

James squirmed. “I still feel like I should ask.”

“What, so Logan can decide who I can have sex with?” Camille snapped. “Logan Mitchell doesn’t own my vagina!”

James started giggling.

Camille rolled her eyes. “James, if you can’t hear the word ‘vagina’ without giggling, I don’t think this is going to work.”

James tried to rein it in. “Oh yeah? And you don’t giggle when you think of guy parts?”

Camille crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. “Penis. Dick. Cock.”

James stopped laughing. Hearing Camille say those words, half pissed and half matter-of-fact, wasn’t funny. It was actually kind of hot. So was the faint flush in her cheeks, giving away that she wasn’t as cool about all of this as she was pretending to be. “Okay, fine, you win.”

“And we’re not telling anyone? _Including_ Logan?”

James sighed. “Yeah. Including Logan.”

Camille stood up. “Okay, then. I guess we should...go to my bedroom?”

James stood up too, trying to pretend that his heartrate hadn’t just kicked into overdrive. “I guess we should.”

Camille’s bedroom was the same size and shape as James and Carlos’s, but the queen-sized bed with the deep burgundy canopy and pretty floral sheets made it look totally different. There was an old-fashioned vanity piled with scripts, and a couple of fancy porcelain dolls up on a shelf, half-buried under an assortment of hats and wigs. The curtains and lampshade were gauzy and red, giving the whole room a soft, rosy glow.

James had been in girls’ bedrooms before, mostly for making out, and he was used to them, but this one was so exactly like Camille - cluttered and delicate and romantic - that it made him suddenly nervous. Well, more nervous than he had been.

Camille closed the curtains, which just made the room darker and more atmospheric. “Um...take off your clothes.”

James clutched at his pants. “What?”

“Well, you’re going to have to at some point,” she pointed out. “And it’s not like I haven’t seen you in a bathing suit.”

“Why do I have to go first?” he asked. “It’s not like I haven’t seen _you_ in a bathing suit.”

Camille scowled. “We’ll do it at the same time,” she said, and James nodded. “Shirts first.”

James tugged his shirt off cheerfully enough. After all, he’d worked very hard to look good without it, and Camille was right - it was nothing she hadn’t seen before.

Then he looked at Camille and froze. She’d dropped her tank top on the floor and was standing there in a red, lacy bra. He’d seen her in bikinis before, but he’d never really let himself look - she was Logan’s girlfriend, and his friend, and staring was rude.

Now he stared.

She blushed. “Okay. Pants now.”

Pants. Pants were going to be a bit of a problem, because, well, James was standing in a beautiful girl’s bedroom and she wasn’t wearing a shirt and James was only human, after all.

Then he remembered what he was there for. He was _supposed_ to be hard.

He took a deep breath, and took off his pants.

Camille slipped out of her shorts. Her panties didn’t match her bra - they were cotton, not lace, and navy, not red - and somehow that was even hotter, because this wasn’t porn, or some crazy sex dream that he’d feel guilty about in the morning. This was real.

Her gaze dropped down to the tent in his boxers and she went even redder. “Uh. You’re, um.”

“Yeah,” he said, and felt oddly like he should apologize for it.

She nodded, then plucked at her bra strap. “I guess I should take this off now, huh?”

“Can I?” he asked before he could stop himself.

She paused, then nodded. He took a few faltering steps closer, then reached around her, fingers hovering in air for an anxious minute before coming to rest on the smooth skin of her back. He skimmed his fingertips up, searching for the clasp, and tried to calm himself. He’d touched girls’ bras before - the outside, at least.

But this was different. This was Camille.

His fingers closed on the clasp, and he tried to unhook it - and couldn’t. Frowning, he tried both hands, which brought Camille enticingly close within the circle of his arms, but didn’t help at all in terms of actually getting the bra open. He tugged futilely. “Why won’t this work?”

Camille looked like she was biting back a laugh. “Here,” she said, and turned in his arms, lifting her hair out of the way.

James stared at the pale line of her back and the curve of her ass for a minute before focusing on the bra clasp again. It took another minute and a few muttered curses, but he finally got it open. “There. How do you girls wear those every day?”

Now Camille _did_ laugh, turning back around and letting the bra straps fall from her shoulders. “We’re used to it.”

James opened his mouth to say something - and promptly forgot it, because Camille’s breasts were _right there_ , and she was so close, and she smelled so good. “Uh…”

Camille was blushing again. “So…”

“Those ground rules,” James said abruptly. “You never said - is kissing okay?”

Camille bit her lip, then nodded. “Yeah,” she said. “Kissing is okay.”

James leaned in, breathed in the sweet, fruity scent of her shampoo, and kissed her. Her lips were soft and warm and he could feel his confidence returning. Sex might be awkward and new, but he knew kissing. He was good at kissing.

Then Camille sighed and reached up to wrap her arms around his neck, and her bare breasts brushed against his chest, and James forgot to care about good or bad or experienced or inexperienced or _anything_ except how amazing this moment was, right now.

He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her even closer, loving the way she arched into the curve of his body. She pressed forward and he stumbled back to keep his balance, backing up until the backs of his knees hit the bed. He sat on the edge of it, and Camille, who James was rapidly realizing must be some kind of genius, scrambled up to straddle his lap.

Then she reached down, grabbed his hand, and placed it on her breast. “Is that okay?” she asked, her hair falling in a wild curtain around her face.

This stunning, amazing girl wanted to sit in his lap, with only a couple of thin layers of cotton separating her from his dick, and have him touch her breasts - and she wanted to know if that was _okay_. “Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, it’s okay.”

With one hand on her back to keep her from falling, he gave her breast an experimental squeeze. That didn’t seem to elicit much of a reaction, so he tried brushing his thumb against the nipple - and she gave a little shiver. “Oh,” she breathed.

“Good?” he asked. She nodded, so he did it again. She curled forward, clutching at his shoulders, lips brushing his ear as he gently, carefully experimented, seeing what left her unmoved and what elicited little gasps and squeaks.

Daringly, he tried his mouth on the other one. _That_ made Camille dig her nails into his shoulders, which hurt a little but was mostly amazing. “ _James_ ,” she said against his ear, and he’d always liked his name, but he’d never liked it quite this much before.

He sucked harder, and she rocked up against him, which was _incredible_ but also probably a bad idea, at least if they wanted this to last more than thirty seconds. “Camille, I can’t…” he tried, and she rocked again, making him fumble and lose his sentence. “I...Camille…Camille, stop!”

She did, immediately, and gave him a frozen, apologetic look. “Sorry! I...what did I do wrong?”

“Nothing,” he said, and felt his cheeks burning. “But I’m gonna come if you keep doing that.”

Her eyes went wide, her cheeks went pink, and James had never wanted to kiss anyone as badly as he wanted to kiss her right now. So he did.

“Here, why don’t we…” she said as they broke apart, and pointed up the bed. “Lie down.”

He scooted back towards the pillows - and Camille rose up on her knees and wiggled out of her panties, leaving her totally naked.

“Holy crap, Camille,” James said.

Camille glanced down at herself, then tucked a strand of hair self-consciously behind her ear. “Well, I mean, we were gonna have to get naked eventually, and I…”

“You’re beautiful,” James interrupted.

“Oh,” she said. “Well, good.” She crawled up the bed towards him. James didn’t think she was trying to be sexy, but if it wasn’t still the hottest thing he had ever seen, he would eat his lucky comb. “Now your turn.”

“It’s always my turn to be beautiful,” he said. She looked pointedly at his boxers. “Oh, right.” Reaching down, he shimmied out of them.

Camille stared. James fought the urge to throw the covers over himself. “Uh...Camille?”

“Sorry,” she said. She was still pink and embarrassed and absolutely lovely. “Um. Can I...can I touch it?”

James nodded, a little frantically. Camille reached down and brushed her fingers tentatively against James’s dick, which twitched in response. “Oh!”

“That’s a good thing,” James assured her.

“Oh. Good,” she said with a nervous giggle; then, with a bit more confidence, she wrapped her hand around him and stroked experimentally.

“Hh,” he managed, then, “Camille.”

“Good?” she asked. He nodded again, so she kept stroking, her gaze flicking back between his dick and his face in fascination. Her hand was small and soft and strong and felt totally different from when James touched himself, and James could do this for pretty much forever…

...but then Camille pulled her hand away. “You brought condoms, right?”

It took James’s brain a minute to catch up with her words; then he nearly leapt from the bed. “Yes! Yes, I did. Hang on.” He found his pants on the floor, fumbled for the back pocket, and dug his wallet out.

A wolf whistle from the bed made him turn around. Camille was sitting up, clearly admiring the view of him bent over, her hair a wild tangle of curls. “What?” she asked, grinning. “You look good like that.”

James couldn’t help grinning back, and throwing a little shimmy in for good nature. “I look good like _everything_ ,” he informed her, and triumphantly held up the little foil wrapper.

He climbed back onto the bed. Camille lay down and watched as he opened the packet and fumbled a bit with the condom before rolling it on. This, at least, he knew how to do. “I never thought I’d be grateful for Ms. Collins’ sex education class,” he said.

Camille laughed and covered her face with her hands. “Oh God, that was the worst. Remember when Logan fainted?”

“Was that before or after Carlos ate all the bananas?”

Camille shook her head. “At least Ms. Collins sent Katie and Tyler and the other little kids off to recess first.”

“Okay, so...how should we…?” James said, trying to get back to the issue at hand. He didn’t want to talk about Katie anymore, and he _definitely_ didn’t want to talk about Logan. “Should I just...stick it in? I don’t want to...I mean, doesn’t it hurt for girls? The first time?”

Now Camille looked nervous again. “Sometimes, I think? I, um, I’m not super worried because, uh, well...I’ve, you know, put my fingers in there. But go slow anyway, okay?”

And _that_ was just about the hottest mental image James had ever had, but he nodded and shifted closer. Camille spread her legs, reached down, and guided him into place. It took some shifting and adjusting to find the right angle, but then suddenly there it was, and James pushed forward, and - _oh_.

He made himself stop and look down at Camille. “You okay?”

She nodded. “It doesn’t hurt. It feels...a little weird? But not bad-weird.”

That wasn’t exactly the ringing endorsement James was hoping for, but Camille twitched her hips up and said, “Keep going,” and that worked, too. He pushed in deeper, using every bit of willpower to keep going slow, to be ready to stop if Camille needed him to, but she didn’t, and she didn’t, and then he was all the way in, and nothing in his entire life had ever felt as good as this.

“Hey,” she said.

He’d had his head tucked down in concentration. Now he looked up at Camille, who was flushed and sweaty and smiling at him in a way that made his heartbeat drum louder in his ears.

“Kiss me?” she asked.

James was happy to oblige. James would’ve kissed her forever, if that was what she wanted. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and he started moving again, shallow thrusts of his hips that made Camille gasp and hold him tighter. “Okay, _now_ it feels good,” she said, her voice rough and low, and James buried his face in her neck, kissing the sweat-slick skin there, and rocked against her, over and over.

“James,” she moaned, breath ruffling his hair. “James, don’t stop.”

James had no intention of stopping. This was the most amazing thing that had ever happened to him and if Camille wanted him to keep going he would, kissing every inch of her that he could reach, hands sliding along the curves of her hips, sinking into the tight heat of her over and over again, deeper and faster until pleasure crackled along his nerve endings, lit up his brain with light and he gasped out her name, let it spill from his lips like a prayer before slumping, exhausted, against her.

There was a pause. “Was that it?” Camille asked.

James pushed himself up far enough to give her an offended look. “No, nonono, it’s okay,” she said quickly. “It was good! Just…”

“...You didn’t come,” James realized belatedly. “I suck.”

“It was our first time,” Camille pointed out. “Most girls don’t come their first time. And most guys don’t, uh, last very long.”

James sighed and started to pull away. “I’m sorry. It was amazing for me and I wanted it to be amazing for you, but…”

Camille grabbed his arm. “James. We’re performers. What does it take to be really good at performing?”

“Great hair?”

“Besides that.”

James thought, then smiled. “Practice.”

Camille tugged him down for another kiss. “James Diamond, we have a lot of work to do.”

*

**Tuesday**

Camille opened the door. “You’re late.”

“Yeah, I was on my way out and Logan asked me if I wanted to go to Linus’s band practice with him and by the time I lost him - ”

“Don’t care,” Camille said, hauling James down for a kiss and slamming the door behind him. James felt a little weird about kissing Logan’s ex-girlfriend so soon after talking to him, but then Camille did that thing with her tongue that he liked, and forgot about Logan entirely.

This time there was no awkwardness; they were in Camille’s bedroom with their clothes off in under a minute. James started towards Camille, but she took a step back and held up a warning hand. “I think we should start this time with me showing you where the clitoris is.”

James scoffed. “I know where the clitoris is.”

Camille folded her arms. “Oh yeah? Show me.”

James stared at her for a long moment, then pointed to her left elbow. Camille rolled her eyes and tugged him to the bed. “Here. Give me your finger.”

She guided his hand in place, then shifted his finger until it was in the right place. “Mm. Feel that?”

James gave an experimental rub. “This?”

Camille clutched at him. That was way better than her elbow. “Y-yeah. Keep doing that.”

“For how long?”

“ _Forever_.”

*

**Wednesday**

“You know what I’ve been wanting to try out?” Camille mused, handing James a cup of iced tea. “Blowjobs.”

James choked on his drink.

*

**Thursday**

Camille grinned. “Hey,” she said, spreading her legs and pushing James lower down on the bed with a gentle foot on his shoulder. “Turnabout is fair play.”

*

**Saturday**

“You don’t want to go to the pool?” Kendall asked. “It’s gorgeous out, and you love the pool! Where are you going instead?”

James inched towards the door. “Uh, Camille asked me to…” _Go down on her again and I’d rather do that than literally anything else on the planet._ “...help her run lines. Gotta go!”

*

**Sunday**

“But I thought we were going to the movies,” Lucy said. “Linus and Logan really want to see _Fumblebums_. You’re not gonna make me go alone, are you? They’re like best buddies now, they totally ignore me at practice.”

Camille winced. “Sorry, I really have to finish this assignment for Ms. Collins. Rain check?” It was weird - a couple months ago she would have leapt at the chance to hang out with Logan, which was really pathetic when she thought about it. Now feeling anxious and invisible around him didn’t hold the same appeal.

Lucy sighed and trudged off down the hall, to where Linus and Logan were laughing over something on Linus’s phone. “Come on, you two. Camille’s not coming.”

Camille cringed again and closed the door. James stuck his head out from her bedroom. He had her comforter wrapped around his lower torso. “Are they gone?”

*

**Tuesday**

“You are LATE!” Gustavo bellowed as James came running into the studio. “The other dogs have been here for an hour! Where were you?”

“And why weren’t you answering your phone?” Carlos asked.

James coughed and tried to smooth his hair into something resembling order. He and Camille had fallen asleep and hadn’t woken up until her dad came home and James was forced to escape out the window. Even then it had been hard to tear himself out of Camille’s bed, with her warm and sleepy in his arms. “Uh...climbed a tree, couldn’t get down? You know how it is.”

Carlos gave an understanding nod, but Gustavo just glared, and Kendall looked downright suspicious. James stepped into the recording booth, slipped his headphones on, and avoided Kendall’s gaze.

Logan sniffed. “What’s that smell? Is that strawberry?”

James sniffed too. Camille’s shampoo. What if Logan recognized it? “Uh, it was a strawberry tree.”

“There’s no such thing as - ”

“Hey, I think Gustavo wants us to sing!” James said quickly, and hunched down behind his lyrics sheet.

Now Kendall _and_ Logan were giving him weird looks. James didn’t know what felt worse: lying to his friends, or knowing that Logan probably knew the scent of Camille’s shampoo well. Either way, he needed to start setting an alarm clock.

*

**Friday**

“Not today,” Camille said when she opened the door.

James frowned. “What’s wrong? Dad home?”

“No, it’s not that, I just...not today, James, seriously. Not for the next _few_ days.” Camille’s hand tightened on the door, ready to close it so she could go back to lying down and hating the world.

“Are you sick?” James asked, brow furrowing in concern. “You don’t look so hot.”

Camille knew she looked terrible, but he didn’t have to _say_ it. “I have my period, okay? And I have awful cramps, and I’m bloated and nauseous and all I want to do right now is watch romantic comedies and cry.” That ought to get rid of him.

James held up a finger. “Be right back.”

He dashed off. Five minutes later he was knocking on her door again, this time holding a handful of chocolate bars and a hot water bottle. “My mom always needed these when she had her period, so I thought they might help. You want me to rub your back?”

Camille knew it was the hormones making grateful tears spring to her eyes, so she just nodded and let him in. He handed her the chocolate, led her to the couch, and turned on the TV. “Come on, I hear the new Dak Zevon romcom is _great_.”

*

**Thursday**

Camille rested her head on James’s chest, feeling the thrum of his pulse under her ear. He trailed his knuckles up and down her upper arm, a light, lazy touch that made her sigh contentedly and snuggle closer. She knew they couldn’t drift off to sleep - that had already gotten James in trouble once - but she felt totally at peace, the different characters in her mind and the demand for attention quieted for once. Maybe it was because they were just fooling around, not dating, but being with James was easy, in a way nothing had ever been before.

“I should go look over the scripts my agent just sent me,” she said, and didn’t move.

“I should go work out,” he said, and didn’t move.

She smiled. “What, that wasn’t enough of a workout for you?”

“Oh, you know what I mean. I don’t want to get too flabby to impress the ladies.”

“Hey, I think you look great.”

“Well, yeah, but you’re just a friend,” James said. “I mean, a _great_ friend, don’t get me wrong, and this is amazing, but...we’re just helping each other out, right? That’s what we agreed.” She felt him shrug underneath her. “You already like me. I need to impress girls who don’t.”

Camille bit her lip, frowning at the opposite wall. James didn’t usually talk about other girls when he was with her. Usually he seemed to be having a great time just with her. Had something changed?

James’s knuckles stilled on her arm. “You... _do_ already like me, right?” he asked.

“Of course I do!” she said quickly. “I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t. You’re one of my best friends after Jo and Lucy.” She patted his hip. “Just a regular old pal.”

“Oh,” he said. “Good.”

“Yeah.”

They lapsed into silence, but Camille kept frowning at the wall as if it were a puzzle she could solve. Her neck was stiff, and after a minute she pulled away to put her head on the pillow. Somehow James’s chest didn’t feel as comfortable as it had before.

*

**Wednesday**

Camille was walking past the Palm Woods conference room when she caught a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye. She stopped and peeked inside, curious - the conference room was almost never used.

Logan was sitting under the meeting table, knees drawn up to his chest. He appeared to be talking to himself.

“Logan?” Camille called.

Logan jumped, hit his head on the underside of the table, and yelped. “Camille! Hey! I’m just...hanging out. Under this table. You know. Chillin’. Bleep blap bloop.”

Camille had known Logan for long enough to be able to tell when he was freaking out. “Are you okay?”

“Sure! Why wouldn’t I be okay?” he asked.

“Because you’re hiding under a table?” She sat down in one of the conference chairs. “You want to tell me about it?”

Logan sighed, crawled out from under the table, and sat down next to her. “Fine. Maybe I’m not okay.” He dug the toe of his sneaker into the carpet. “Linus kind of...kissed me.”

Camille blinked. “What?”

“Well, maybe we kissed each other. I don’t know! It was confusing!” Logan said. “We were watching this space documentary at his and Lucy’s place, and we were on the couch, and I turned to say something to him, and then it just kind of...happened.”

“And then you came and hid under the conference room table?” Camille asked.

“Well, then he said, ‘I really like you,’ and I said, ‘Cranberry,’ and _then_ I came and hid under the conference room table.”

“‘Cranberry?’”

“I don’t know! I panicked!” Logan said. “I never kissed a guy before!”

Camille gave Logan a thoughtful look. After all, he’d never been that into dating _her_ \- and something about his anxious, wistful expression made her suspect he was freaking out less because he’d kissed Linus, and more because he might want to do it again. “Have you _thought_ about kissing guys before?”

Logan shrugged. “I dunno. Maybe. Yes?” He finally looked at her. “I wasn’t trying to lie to you or trick you or anything when we were dating. I just…” He spread his hands helplessly.

She reached over and squeezed his knee. “You know it’s okay if you’re not sure what you want, right? I don’t know Linus that well, but I’m sure if you told him you needed some time to think, or you wanted to take it slow while you figured things out, he’d be cool about it.”

Logan nodded, but he still looked uncertain.

“And you know that James and the other guys are gonna love you no matter what, right?” she went on. “We all will.”

Now Logan relaxed marginally. “Yeah, I guess.”

She stood up. “Hug?”

Logan stood up too, smiling tentatively. “You must be the coolest girl in the world,” he said, and folded her in his arms.

She squeezed him back, closing her eyes. “You know it,” she said, and waited for the pang of regret to hit her.

But it didn’t. She still thought Logan was adorable and a great guy, but she realized as she hugged him that she wouldn’t go back to him, even if he decided he did like girls after all. She’d felt crazy and needy and unwanted when she was with him, always chasing him and never catching up. It soothed her wounded pride, knowing why he hadn’t seemed that into her - but it helped even more that she didn’t feel like that with James. With James she always felt like he wanted to be there, too.

Of course, she and James weren’t dating. But that didn’t mean they couldn’t be. After all, he seemed to like her a lot, and they knew they had chemistry, so why not?

She pulled back and looked Logan in the eye. “Now go talk to Linus, okay? Just tell him how you feel.”

That anxious look was starting to come back to Logan’s face. “But…”

“You can do this,” she assured him. “Just be honest.”

He took a deep breath and nodded. “Be honest. Right. I can do that.” He headed for the door, then turned back to give her that crooked little smile of his. “Thanks.”

She waved, then headed out of the room herself, in the opposite direction, looking for James. It was time for her to be honest, too.

*

James stood in the middle of Palm Woods Park, but he couldn’t make sense of the kids playing around him or the dogs barking or the ice cream truck’s merry tune. All he could see was Camille and Logan, hugging. Camille and Logan, smiling at each other. Camille and Logan, back together.

He’d been walking past the conference room when a familiar pair of voices had made him turn his head. He hadn’t been able to hear what they were saying, but it was obvious enough from their long, close embrace that their on-again, off-again relationship, after a lengthy break, was on again.

He should be happy for them. They were his friends. If they made each other happy, who was he to stand in the way of that?

But he’d thought Camille was happy with him.

Of course, he and Camille weren’t dating. If he _really_ wanted to make her happy, he’d show her there was no need to worry about him messing up her restored relationship with Logan. That was being a good friend.

Maybe if he knew he was being a good friend, he’d stop feeling like he wanted to lie down and cry.

James tried to think. The best way to show Camille that he was totally cool with her and Logan getting back together and that he wouldn’t make a big stink over it would be to date someone else, right? He was still The Face, after all, and now he had a pretty good idea of what to do in bed with a new girl.

He scanned the park, looking for a girl he hadn’t already dated. There. “Cindy!” he called, making his way over to the blonde singer. He’d only spoken to Cindy once before, but she was great. Sure, she wasn’t adorably tiny like Camille, and she didn’t have a distractingly sexy mole by her mouth like Camille, and she didn’t make him feel like he was the coolest and most charming guy on Earth like Camille did. But she wasn’t Logan’s girlfriend, and that made her perfect.

James had kissed a hundred and thirty girls, and he’d never found one who couldn’t make him forget the one before. Camille had even made him forget Lucy, who he’d liked the best of any girl he’d ever dated. Surely Cindy would make him forget Camille.

After all, he couldn’t feel this bad forever, right?

*

There was a knock on the door.

Camille peeked through the peephole. It was James. She took a minute to compose her breathing and tug her shirt down a bit to show more cleavage. Her palms were sweaty - but she also couldn’t stop smiling.

She opened the door. “Hey, James, I was actually trying to find you earlier,” she said. “I went by 2J but the guys didn’t know where you were. What’s up?”

James smiled, but it was a weirdly intense smile, and one that didn’t actually look very happy. “Hey! I was just coming by to tell you that I can’t make it tomorrow. I’ve got a date.”

The bottom dropped out of Camille’s stomach. “What?”

“Yeah, you know that girl Cindy? We’re going to the movies. Lucky her!” He wouldn’t meet her eyes. “So I guess this thing here - ” he gestured between the two of them “ - is suspended until further notice. But hey, it was fun! And good luck to you and Logan.” He leaned in as if to give her a gentle punch on the shoulder, but shied away without actually touching her.

Camille didn’t understand. She knew she’d read Logan all wrong, but James was usually an open book, and she’d thought he’d been as into her as she was into him. But apparently she was just chronically terrible at understanding boys. She tried to force a smile - the last thing she needed was for James to see her crying over this.

Then the last thing James had said penetrated. “Wait. Me and Logan?”

For the first time, James’s over-bright smile faltered. “Yeah, well, I saw the two of you hugging and I figured you were back together. I know how much you like him, so...congrats! AnywayIgottago.”

He turned and started to speed walk towards the elevator. Camille ran into the hall after him. “Logan and I aren’t back together!” she called.

James stopped and turned. “You’re not?”

“No,” Camille said, walking towards him. “He was just telling me about...well, it’s not really my place to say, but I have a feeling you’ll be hearing about it in the next day or two. But I was just giving him some advice. _Friendly_ advice. Because _we’re just friends_. I don’t like Logan anymore.” She took a deep breath. “I like someone else.”

James made a face. “Is it Steve?”

Camille shook her head. “No. It’s this really sweet guy who always makes me laugh, and brings me chocolate when I’m feeling down, and has the best smile at the Palm Woods. Probably the best smile in Hollywood.”

“...Carlos?”

“It’s you, James!” Camille said. She tucked her hair behind her ear. “Look, I know you have a date with Cindy, and it’s okay if you were just fooling around with me because that was the deal we made, but I wanted you to know how I felt in case you - ”

James kissed her. Camille wrapped her arms around his neck and pushed up on her toes to kiss him back. She’d had a whole speech planned there, but this was better. This was _way_ better.

“I want to be with you,” James said finally, hands cupping her face. “I’ll cancel the date with Cindy. But it’ll have to wait a little while.”

“Why?” Camille asked.

Then she squeaked in surprise as James picked her up and started carrying her back to her apartment. “Oh, nothing,” James said. “It’s just, I’ve been practicing having sex with this _amazing_ tutor, and I want to show you everything she taught me.” He paused. “Uh, I meant you, by the way.”

Camille laughed and kissed him. “I know. Let’s go see what you’ve learned, James Diamond.”

*

**Thursday**

James walked out of the bedroom and into the living room just as Logan came in through the front door. “Hey, I need to tell you something,” they said at the same time.

Kendall, Carlos, and Katie looked up from the couch, where they’d been playing Biohazard Blast VI. James could’ve done this without an audience, but he’d rather just get it out in the open than keep it a secret anymore.

“Camille and I are dating,” he said.

Carlos gasped.

“Linus and I kissed and I think I might be gay,” Logan said.

Kendall gasped.

“Yes!” Katie crowed, and stood up. “Bitters owes me fifty bucks for each of you. Thanks, guys!” She gave both James and Logan high fives and skipped out of the apartment.

James stared at Logan. “You like guys?”

Logan shrugged. “Yeah? I mean, I think so?” He looked around at them. “Is...is that okay?”

“Well, I don’t know,” Kendall said thoughtfully. “Is Linus a cool dude? Because if he breaks your heart, we’re gonna have to beat him up, and he went to military school, so he’s probably pretty tough.”

Carlos nodded. “He’s right.”

Logan gave them a nervous smile. “So...you guys don’t care?”

“Of course we care!” James said. “You’re our best friend. You deserve an awesome guy.”

“I mean, you don’t care if I’m gay?” Logan asked.

“Don’t be stupid,” Kendall said. “You’re still Logan.”

“GROUP HUG!” Carlos bellowed, and leapt off the couch. It was more of a three-way tackle, but Logan didn’t seem to mind.

They picked themselves up off the floor and Logan cleared his throat loudly. “Ahem. Yes. Well. What were you saying about Camille, James?”

James froze. “Uh. Camille and I have been secretly hooking up for weeks and I really like her?” He cringed. “If you have to punch me, that’s fine, just please not the face.”

But Logan just patted him on the shoulder. “James. Did you hear the thing about how I like guys? Besides, I thought we decided dibs on girls isn’t cool.” He smiled. “If you and Camille really like each other, I think it’s great that you’re dating. A little weird, but I’ll get over it. Though if you hurt her, I _will_ punch you in the face.”

James smiled back. “Fair. Hey, we should double date some time. You, me, Linus, and Camille. Not tonight, though. Camille and I already have plans.”

“Yeah?” Logan asked. “What are you two doing?”

A couple weeks ago, James would’ve gladly bragged about any number of activities he and Camille might get up to tonight. Now, he didn’t see the need.

“Oh, you know,” he said, and thought of Camille’s bed, and her kisses, and her smile, and how great it was to be able to be with her in public. “Just hanging out.”


End file.
